Ikimono: The Animal
by Ganja Naraku
Summary: I'm the best there is at what I do. And what I do isn't very nice.


I've completely revised this story and as such I am posting it as a new chapter. I apologize for pissing you off but I have it on good authority that it'll be much better this way. Lengthy Reviews are what I live for, so please give them to me. I apologize once again and as always, keep kicking ass.

xxx

A man dashed across the small bridge toward the mansion, his razor sharp nails carving through anyone and anything in his path. He was dressed in a simple white T-shirt and blue jeans, his crimson eyes were aimed strait ahead as he impaled his right hand into an armored mercenary and lifted him before ramming his left into his stomach over and over again, tearing away at the digestive organ and spilling a good deal of blood, flesh, meat, and what he could only assume to be half digested fish onto his person. He'd have to remember to wash these clothes on heavy later...Seeing more men coming for him, he tossed the man aside and continued on his rampage.

As he reached another man, both his hands found the man's abdomen and began ripping out his small intestines in small controlled swipes before gripping him by the throat and tossing the corpse into another mercenary pinning him down long enough for him to lunge like an animal and ram his claws into his jaw, past his mouth clear into his brain. He was so focused on his task he didn't notice the spear that flew the air and impaled him like a javelin through his chest as he turned around. As he recoiled away from the blood soaked heap, four men charged him armed with what looked like spiked balled on chains connected to wooden handles. He wasn't able to move as two smacked into his chest, the spikes breaking several ribs and crushing his heart and lungs. As the pain from the blows began to worm into his mind, another spiked ball found it's way into his face knocking him over and leaving a once handsome visage mangled beyond recognition.

As he landed with a thud on the ground, the wielders of the weapons pulled their armaments out of the wounds, in the blurred reality the still conscious blond was in, he heard them shouting in victory. And what was left of his face formed into the faintest hint of a grin. None of them were even aware that his flesh and muscle was regenerating itself, replacing the lost tissue at a level no normal person could ever hope for. His broken cheek bones came back into place and reformed, loose teeth tightened into place, those that had been forced down his crushed throat having to regrow in their entirety. His blinded vision began to clear as he felt the spear in his chest being yanked on. His nose was almost back in place before it was removed and he could see again.

xxx

__

My 'father' called me Ikimono. I don't remember having any other names.

xxx

The look on the man's face was priceless as he leaned up and ripped his throat out with clawing grab; lifting him with one arm as he crushed the man's windpipe. As his enemy fell limp in his hand he glanced at several men as they backed away in fear, not understanding how their weapons hadn't killed the boy, how it looked like he had just been woken up from a nap. He glanced in annoyance at the spear thrower's corpse before cracking his sore neck and tossing him aside. Bending down, he picked up the bloodied pole-arm he'd dropped only moments before. He examined it for a time turning it over in his hand before glancing at the group of men who had yet to flee or die and grinning like a sadist. "My turn, boys."

Starting slow, he began twirling the weapon between his fingers, picking up speed as he built momentum and whirling it about so it became a circular blur. Tossing it into the air, he caught, regripped, spun and hurled the spear with every ounce of force his body could exert. And the result was nothing short of amazing. It cleared two men clean through their skulls and went halfway through the chest of the man behind them. As the third victim recoiled, the clawed warrior was upon him, his hands coated in the fresh blood of six men he passed to reach his new victim. Gripping the handle of the spear he let out a roar that sounded like an enraged wolf before spinning the weapon into several men that were advancing at his back. The force of the blow was such that it snapped in half on impact.

The blond warrior paused long enough to glance at the broken wood before shrugging and ramming it downward into the body of a fresh corpse. All around him were bodies, blood soaked the streets and the groans of those that were still alive echoed an eerie chorus of death and carnage. He sighed as he cracked his neck again. "Why do they always give the stupid guys weapons?"

xxx

__

Fact is, I don't remember much of anything. First real memories I have are being found on the river bank by some old guy. Foreigner, think his name was Logan or something. He stood about five three with black hair that was kept in two curved spikes on either side of his head. He was muscled too, must have had something to do with the sixteen hour training regimen he kept every day. Anyway, he's the guy who took me in, gave me some food, filled me in on where I was. Old guy even gave me my name. This little slice of heaven is called the Wave Islands. Brothels left and right, drug dealers to your left, murders and rapists in the alleys...Get past the stench of fish and beggars who haven't bathed in the past decade and it feels just like home.

Wasn't always like this though. According to Logan when he'd first moved here it was a prospering nation. At least it was until some little shit named Gato came around. Guy's a greedy scumbag, took over the entire shipping industry, Wave's only way of making money. Turns out Wave's one of the largest export centers in the world, as a matter of fact it still is. Only real difference it the people don't see much of the money they help bring in, Gato's padding his pockets with it while we've got kids starving. My first question was if anyone tried fighting back. The old man told me there was some famous bridge-builder who tried to collapse the monopoly by creating a bridge to the mainland. He hired a group of ninja to protect him from Gato's thugs as he worked on the bridge. Came real close too. But then they sent in some hotshot assassin who gutted the ninja, bridge-builder, and the bridge-builder's family in their sleep. Then Gato had the bodies hung over the bridge as he destroyed it. From there the village had lost all hope. As Gato got richer, more and more people began to die. I'm not the type to get involved with other peoples problems. In that respect I'm like the Old Man: Give me a beer and plenty of space and I'm a pretty good guy.

But then the old man was killed. Another thing about Gato, he levies insane levels of taxes that most people just can't pay. When that happens, well, those people disappear. I remember when they came for him. Old man's house was a dinky little shack that used to belong to the bridge-builder. He'd donated his old house to try and give the homeless a place to stay. He was soft like that... But I'm getting off track, he tried to fight them off with a set of metal claws he could grow from his hands. I can only assume they used some sort of explosive to kill him because when I got back from the market, the place was in flames and they were standing around to watch it burn. After I dealt with them I tried to find a body but there was no trace of him anywhere...He's not the type to run from a fight though...

Which leads me to here, heading for the gates to kill the guy responsible for it all.

xxx

The blond grunted as he rolled to the left and avoided a massive downward swing by a Zanbato. He looked at the wielder, a shirtless man in light blue pants with camouflage leggings and arm guards. His lower face was covered in bandages. He stood up strait and replaced the blade on his shoulder as he glanced at the carnage. "Heh, Not gonna lie to you kid, the fact that you killed them all with your bare hands, pretty impressive."

"Yeah well, sometimes you've just gotta do more than make a point." The blond cracked his knuckles as he rolled his shoulder around. "Gotta throw down heavy, extend some nails and go to Claw City. You get me?"

The masked man grinned. "Yeah, loud and clear." He lunged again and the blond met him head on, and with an amazing amount of dexterity and strength he fell to the ground allowing the horizontal cut to pass above him as he rose up with was was an intended clawed upper cut. The swordsman, however, seemed to predict this and planted his blade into the ground switching hands on the hilt. As he leaned back to avoid the clawed fist he countered with a rough kick to the blond's exposed abdomen sending him back a few feet. Said blond extended his hands catching himself in a handstand and back flipped back to an all fours position before rushing as the masked warrior who tried a vertical downward swing only to have the blond dodge to the side and shoulder tackle his chest knocking him down.

As his clawed hand rose to deal the killing blow he felt something grip his hand and twist it behind his back and apply a firm pressure. Frowning, he looked back and found a masked woman dressed in a blue and green robes and a mist tracker mask. When she rammed the three senbon that were held in between her fingers into his chest he dislocated his shoulder and move his arm back to it's natural position before rolling away from the two. "Woman." He growled in annoyance as he pulled the needles out and tossed them to the ground. "Wait. Your. Turn."

He watched in silence as she helped the man up and drew six more senbon. "Forgive me Zabuza...I could not stand aside any longer..."

"Yeah, yeah..." He regripped his weapon and held it over his shoulder watching as Ikimono replaced his shoulder in it's socket with a painful grunt. "What the hell are you?"

"Your worst nightmare." Once more, he fell on all fours and charged, moving to avoid the senbon thrown and ignoring the few that were able to dig themselves into his shoulders. Knowing that the girl was going to be a problem if she took to higher ground she was his primary target, then he could deal with what's-his-name. As he leaped into the air like a tiger he watched in surprise as she responded by forming some sort of ice mirror behind her which she faded into at the moment of impact. As he shattered the mirror he was forced to leap over another horizontal swing from Zabuza and roll to change direction for the murderous ninja returning fire with a diagonal claw swipe. Zabuza, who was already using the forward momentum of his previous swing for another attack, turned the blade on it's side to create a blunt shield like weapon which served the dual purpose of not only deflecting the blond's blow, but swatting him away with the side of the blade.

As Ikimono was forced back, he collided with something akin to a freezing cold wall. With reflexes like a cat, he was able to avoid the slash as the ice user attacked him from within the frozen substance and then tossed the weapons all impacting his back. He grunted in pain and turned to confront her only to see that she was making some weird motions with her hands. Before he could even formulate a question, another ice mirror appeared on either side of the original, then two more, until he was surrounded by walls of ice. In every wall, she appeared holding four senbon in one hand and moved her white mask to the side revealing one chocolate brown eye. Then he heard the sound of her whisper, a sorrowful, apologetic tone. "I'm sorry..."

Ikimono felt the first swipe at his back as she moved between the icy mirrors, and then lost himself in a swarm of pain as dash after dash cut at him ripping the skin clean from his body and digging at the muscle. after a time areas of bone could be seen as he fell to his hands and knees screaming in pain. Until the raw speed of moving through them shattered the ice and the woman skidded to a stop before Zabuza. She looked back at Ikimono's bloodied form, he didn't look human in even the basest sense anymore, as blood poured from his prone form and he smoked with the frozen air. "Not bad Haku, tore him right the fuck up." The swordsman grunted as he moved to replace his weapon on his back.

"Very good Zabuza!" The swordsman glanced over at a short man who walked forward to look at the body. He was dressed in a buisnessman's suit and placed his cane into the blood pool growing around the blond's body. "Huh, I should have just sent you out in the beginning, lost a lot of good men to this punk." He spat on the face of the blond not noticing that the muscle that was torn away was slowly replacing itself.

"Gato." The short man turned to the swordsman smiling. "I think it would be in your best interest to pay me the money you owe." A fear gripped the man and Zabuza sneered behind his wrappings. "With interest."

"N-Now let's not get hasty here Zabuza old boy!" The greedy tycoon stammered forcing a grin. "Did-Didn't we have an arrangement? You'd stay on-" He yelped like a stricken puppy as the Demon of the Mist lifted him off the ground by his fat neck. Their eyes met and he could see the murder within them and the pure malevolence that scared him to wits end

"I'm _altering _the arrangement." He growled as he reached back with his free hand unclasping his blade and holding it to his side. "Do you really want to alter it any further?"

It wasn't surprising when Gato gave very clear directions to his vault as well as the combination therein. As Zabuza dropped the tycoon he noticed his masked associate's gaze directed at the blond who be now had regained almost his entire skin structure. As soon as Gato hit the ground the blond's eyes snapped open and he lunged, catching the short man and slamming him into the ground snarling as he did so. They were then treated to the sight of the blond's claws ripping and tearing away at his target cutting flesh from bone and separating limb from joint. Vital organs were removed and tossed aside as he continued the assault. Haku, despite the vomit growing in her throat at such a display had the presence of mind to draw her senbon in preparation of an imminent attack. However, Zabuza stayed her hand as he watched the blond preteen sever the man's head and toss it to their feet. This time the vomit reached her mouth but she forced herself to swallow it shuttering at the disgusting flavor the lunch she'd had earlier had gained.

When finished the blond sat panting staring at the corpse of his target. He was covered head to toe in blood both his own and others. He was also nude courtesy of the masked woman's assault not that he minded in the slightest, just one less layer of flesh, easily replaced. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the two of them standing there appraising him and no doubt wondering his next move. He smirked and stood, cracking his neck before turning to the two. Blood was dripping from his nails and covered the entire front of his body. This was one of the times Haku was extremely glad for her mask. She would not have wanted either of the men present here to see her very large blush. The blond was, for lack of a more appropriate term, extremely well endowed for his age. She was shaken from her observations and shock by her Master's voice. "You're very persistent brat..."

The blond grunted cracking his shoulder blades and lower back, he didn't seem all that embarrassed at their seeing his nudity. "So I've been told." He looked at the body behind him and sighed. "Look, I've got no beef with you, I was just here to settle up with that guy." He indicated the head at Zabuza's feet. "So do we really have to go to round two? Because I'm tired as all hell."

Zabuza considered it for a moment and shook his head. "No. I don't think so, we have no quarrel with you now that Gato's dead. We'll just take the money he left behind and be on our way." The blond nodded and watched as they entered the mansion and began ransacking it for cash. Meanwhile he made his way through the battlefield and began gathering up the swords and weapons from the fight. Most were broken or damaged but he wagered they could fetch a good price on the market once it picked up again...

xxx

With Gato's demise things within Wave took a swift and drastic turn. The event was known to other nations as the Miracle of Wave, the economy began to boom, crime fell at a drastic and astounding rate with help of a civilian police force with several retired ninja in their forces, and a building plan to create a bridge was started to ensure that such a tyranny such as Gato's could never be repeated. And while most changes in the Village of Waves were better, Gato's wrath was still felt throughout the seedier parts of the village. Illegal underground fight clubs still existed despite the attempts to stop such things, and drug dealers still worked the alleys and street corners trying to get what they could from their victims.

Ikimono found a job working on the new bridge despite his young age. He could lift as well as a full grown man and used his strength to help carry materials from one area to the next. He then used the money to buy a new house as the one he'd shared with Logan had been burnt to the ground. The new home wasn't massive, hell it was barely livable, but it suited his needs. A small place outside of town with one bedroom and no bathroom or running water or heating. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get anywhere near decent prices at the market for his swords so he kept them around the house and practiced with them if the mood struck him. For the most part things had become...Well _normal_.

Well, until Iruka Umino came to call.

xxx

I want to thank my very good friend Godric Barreka for proofreading and betaing this story as well as having to put up with all of my bullshit ideas. You kick ass!


End file.
